Golden Tree

Wolves were accustomed to moving at night. They chose the shortest route, cutting almost straight through Star Dou Forest as they raced northwest.

Dawn had only just broken, and morning mist drifted through the forest, leaving a faint layer of moisture on the giant wolves' fur.

Without ceremony, Wang Rui slapped awake Lang Xingying, whose forehead was pressed against his back as he snored softly. Then he gently shook Huo Yuqing, who was leaning against his front. "Wake up. We're almost there."

The girl rubbed her eyes groggily. When she turned and saw how clear-eyed Wang Rui was, she felt a little embarrassed. "Wang Rui, you didn't sleep all night?"

"I'm not very sleepy," Wang Rui said softly.

"Such blatant favoritism," Lang Xingying muttered from behind them.

"Jade City isn't far from here," the white wolf said. "Once we arrive, our pack needs to deliver the goods and supplies to their designated locations. Will you two come with us, or get off outside the city and look around on your own?"

"Just drop us off outside," Wang Rui replied.

Before long, the trees around them grew sparse, and an exceptionally wide clearing appeared before them.

Looking into the distance, the first thing Huo Yuqing saw was a beautiful giant tree.

The tree stood more than a hundred meters tall. Its golden trunk and branches were immensely thick, while its lush green leaves resembled jade. Though it was still early morning and the sun had not yet fully risen beneath the iron-gray sky, the tree itself seemed to emit a vibrant golden glow brimming with life.

Even from afar, they could feel the aura of life surging toward them from between its branches.

Huo Yuqing activated her Spirit Eyes martial soul. She could clearly see thick vines hanging from the tree's branches. Pear-shaped cottages that seemed woven from plants hung beneath those vines, while delicate treehouses appeared to be hidden within the canopy as well.

"That is the Golden Ancient Tree, an extremely precious light-element plant. Legend says that such trees are favored by the gods and possess the most abundant life energy. This one has already been growing for over ten thousand years," Wang Rui explained.

The wolf pack stopped at the edge of the clearing. Lang Xingying was the first to slide off a wolf's back. As he stretched his limbs, he kept complaining that his mother had not run steadily enough and had bounced his butt sore.

The white wolf snorted coldly and lashed Lang Xingying's lower back hard with her tail. He let out a miserable yelp and immediately shut his mouth, no longer daring to babble.

Huo Yuqing jumped down after Wang Rui.

They bid the wolf pack farewell. Lang Xingying shamelessly insisted that Wang Rui and Huo Yuqing promise to visit him in Moon Shadow City if they ever had the chance.

The Auspicious Beast agreed with a fake smile and decided to have Zhang Lexuan assign that social menace even more cultivation tasks.

Delicate low-rise buildings surrounded the Golden Tree in a circular arrangement. Most were small and exquisite, with none exceeding three stories. Every house had an emerald-green roof and golden-brown walls, surrounded by abundant vegetation. Their style was completely different from the buildings around Star Luo City.

"Jade City... It doesn't seem to have any walls?" Huo Yuqing asked hesitantly.

"It doesn't need walls," Wang Rui replied. "Ten thousand years ago, this was the home of Bi Ji, the Emerald Swan ranked fourth in Star Dou Great Forest, and her clan. Bi Ji was kind-hearted and possessed the strongest healing ability in the world. If soul beasts in Star Dou Forest suffered injuries that were difficult to recover from, or fell ill, they would find a way to reach the Golden Ancient Tree. So long as they made it here, regardless of their race, the Emerald Swan clan would treat them. Over time, this became a truce zone. No soul beast would fight within this region. That is the common understanding of Star Dou Forest."

"Later, a descendant of the former Heaven Dou Empire's royal family fled here to escape disaster. He met an Emerald Swan and was fortunate enough to gain her approval. After forming a contract with her, his martial soul evolved from an ordinary swan into a Jade Swan. Later, that human built Jade City."

"As long as injured soul beasts and sick humans with nowhere else to turn can hold on until they reach Jade City, they will receive treatment. The city's healing-system soul masters also regularly travel outside the city to provide free medical care... Many humans and soul beasts who survived because of this chose to settle in the city."

"Treatment..." Huo Yuqing murmured, her voice trembling slightly. "It's free?"

Wang Rui froze for a moment, then immediately realized she had thought of her mother. He sighed inwardly.

He raised a hand and stroked her hair. "If it's something a healing-type soul master or soul beast can cure directly, there is no charge. If medicine is needed as part of the treatment, the patient must do some work for Jade City to cover the cost of the medicine."

The girl bit her lip, her eyes turning slightly red.

She thought that if only she had known sooner, perhaps her mother would not have died from illness. But she also knew that even if she had known about Jade City, she likely could not have brought her frail, sick mother through Star Dou Forest to this city in the woods.

Wang Rui said nothing, merely allowing Huo Yuqing time to compose herself.

The Eye of Destiny concealed beneath his forehead guard opened. A jade-green thread of karma extended into the sky, connecting the Golden Tree to the Divine Realm.

If the Golden Tree continued growing, it would evolve into the Ancient Tree of Life. Since the Goddess of Life's true body was also the Ancient Tree of Life, it seemed only natural that the two would be connected.

The Golden Ancient Tree was a great asset to Shrek Academy. During the era of The Legend of the Dragon King, Tang Hao's mother, Ah Yin, even parasitized it, turning it into the life core of Douluo Continent... Together with Tang Hao, it became one of the strongest shackles binding Douluo Continent under the Tang family's control.

As early as ten thousand years ago, Wang Rui had deliberately begun searching for the Golden Tree. In the end, he truly found it—the Golden Tree had been quietly growing in the dense forests of northwestern Star Dou.

He had no idea whether Tang San's "transplantation" of the Golden Tree in the original work had truly meant uprooting it and planting it at Shrek, or whether he had simply destroyed the forests of northwestern Star Dou and forcibly relocated his alma mater here.

At the time, Wang Rui had genuinely hesitated—should he destroy this powerful late-game cheat of the Tang family in advance? But doing so seemed to carry the risk of offending the Goddess of Life.

When in doubt... ask Father.

The Golden Dragon King, who had been so bored within the seal that he had counted the scales on his body over and over again, was naturally delighted to tell his beloved eldest son some gossip about the Divine Realm of old.

...To the Golden Dragon King, this was gossip. To Wang Rui, though, it was all invaluable information.

Among the five God Kings, only Destruction God and the Goddess of Life received even the slightest positive evaluation from the Golden Dragon King.

Judging from the words of the Auspicious Beast's sharp-tongued father, the Goddess of Life seemed to possess qualities more traditionally associated with a deity—she loved all living beings equally.

Of course, the Golden Dragon King's original words had been far harsher, but that did not stop Wang Rui from concluding that the Goddess of Life was an idealist who longed for peace and equality.

So he made a huge gamble.

How much of the Emerald Swan clan's move from near Lake of Life to beneath the Golden Tree had truly been out of necessity, and how much had been to display the friendship and kindness between soul beasts for a powerful figure to see... Only the Imperial Auspicious Beast himself knew.

If Wang Rui lost the bet, at worst he would find some proxies to blow up Shrek.

Fortunately, he had won.

Ten thousand years ago, when Tang San became a god, he had indeed attempted to move the Golden Tree.

Half of Star Dou saw the vast, majestic phantom of a giant tree rise from the Golden Tree—it was the true body of the Goddess of Life, the Ancient Tree of Life.

No one knew what the two gods discussed. In the end, Tang San withdrew and never set his sights on the Golden Tree again.

...Who knew whether he had decided that the Goddess of Life had earned a death sentence?

And that was how Jade City came to be.

A city devoted to helping those in distress, providing treatment equally to all lives suffering pain and injury, promoting peaceful coexistence between humans and soul beasts—a city like a utopia.

A city meant to be shown to the Goddess of Life, to earn prestige for the Beast Sect among humanity, while also carrying Wang Rui's faint hope for the future of soul beasts.

This chapter is also a major secondary setting.

I think it's fairly reasonable, right? (:з"∠)

I think it makes sense for the Golden Tree to evolve into the Ancient Tree of Life, and for the Golden Tree to be connected to the Goddess of Life. Though Tang Jia San Shao probably just didn't want to come up with another new thing...

My assumption is that if they were connected in the original work too, then without the Auspicious Beast, the Golden Tree would have been occupied by certain soul beasts. Tang San wanted to transplant it for the school, and the Goddess of Life might have been easygoing enough to do him a favor.

Anyway, there isn't a Blue Silver Emperor growing here now.

Also, the Beast Sect may still have another plot arc. I'm not sure whether everyone would rather read original content or see the Shrek storyline play out...

And it seems pretty common now to think going to Sun Moon is the trend, but for this story... it really is from the soul beast faction's perspective. Humans are the same on either side, and Sun Moon, with its greater emphasis on Soul Tools, is an even bigger threat.

Also, there seems to have been some issue with my author backend recently. When I check my own book on the Qidian app, it looks like there are quite a lot of comments, but the backend barely shows any. I might not reply, or might reply late, but I will definitely read them.

The author is off celebrating the holiday, so this is all for today. Happy Dragon Boat Festival, everyone!